I have an arts mentor, Antony Muia. This year I was lucky enough to receive funding through DADAA (Disability in the Arts, Disadvantage in the Arts, Australia) to help me continue to develop my art practise. Ant comes to see me at home or sometimes I go to his home studio or we go to an exhibition together.
To be honest, I didn’t really know what to expect, but what I’ve found is that we’ve developed a great relationship where I feel comfortable exploring different art practises, to learn from Ant, and to try things for myself. It’s definitely not like having a teacher. Ant may guide me, but he lets me develop my art by myself.
We talk about all sorts of things. Art, obviously, as well as different styles and techniques, ways of describing my paintings' richness, form, tone and shape, and tools of the trade. We also just talk about everyday life. I like that.
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My name is Ant and I have been mentoring Dan since early this year. We spend a bit of quality time together each week. We live around the corner from each other and I’ve know Dan for a long time.
Dan has spent some time in my studio, checking out my art and doing some drawing. Most weeks I go to Dan’s place where he has a drawing table set up and we do some work. We also chat about life and art, and have a laugh. Recently, I got a stack of small canvases for him and Dan created some great work. It took him out of his comfort zone a bit, which is a good thing for an artist.
